The Artist and his Soldier
by dekkaisdefyinggravity
Summary: Roger probably wouldn't be able to string two words together around Edilio, anyway. Rodilio, how they got together and a bit more. First multi-chapter fic, please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places, or events mentioned in this; it is fanfiction because I am a fan, that's all.**

**The Artist and his Soldier**

It was around one or two in the afternoon, on a Thursday. The Artful Roger was pretty pleased that they still knew that, that they still kept track. It meant they had a connection with the outside world, and hadn't totally changed, mutated, from the kids they once were.

It was plain to see that they had mutated. Roger could see and accept that, even though he wasn't a moof. Thinking back to the Human Crew, he decided that they had a kind of irony about them; they were probably among those who had changed the most. He knew hatred was human, but surely love was more so?

The Human Crew were far in the past, at any rate. Peace reigned, which was obviously good. It still felt unreal after all the fighting. But they had the lake, which was quite clearly brilliant. Good food, clean water, everything that they used to have, they felt like luxuries now.

Even Justin felt that way. Justin was far too young to feel that way, but he did, and that was that. Roger felt kind of guilty; it wasn't his fault, but Roger did take care of Justin, which kind of made Justin his kid.

Justin was Roger's kid and Roger did take care of him. But they had a problem, and Roger wasn't fixing it. Part of their houseboat was cracking, and might let in water at any moment. None of the others had noticed, being too busy and/or pregnant to take notice. Roger knew that he should go to the deputy mayor to sort this out; everyone knew Edilio was the best at fixing stuff. But Edilio was deputy mayor, and was thus surely very busy. He would have much more important things to do. Roger didn't want to bother him.

Besides, Roger probably wouldn't be able to string two words together around Edilio - he had had a crush on him since before the FAYZ. He was organised, calm - even more important in the FAYZ. He was also _really_ attractive, which was honestly not even slightly fair. Roger had never stood a chance.

At the moment, he didn't know where anyone he lived with was, which suited him just fine. He worried about Justin for a moment, before setting that thought aside. He was sensible, wouldn't wander off.

Roger was on his houseboat, which he shared with Justin and a few others. He sat inside. He took out a piece of paper from the storage space under a chair, and carefully flattened it. His paper, pencil and others box probably contained most of the art products in the FAYZ, and they had cost him quite a bit.

Sitting at his desk, he remembered a visit to NYC, when he was very young. The trip had been boring for him, but he longed for any new scenery. So he began to draw.

The boat was tied up, because it was day time, and everyone who lived on the boat liked to come and go fairly often. Roger had a few friends, and he liked to catch sight of Edilio whenever he could. It always made him feel a bit creepy, but _come on_. It's not that bad.

He heard Justin call from outside.

"Hey Roger?"

He sounded slightly worried, for some reason, but Roger didn't think there was an emergency.

"What is it?" Roger responded. He didn't know why Justin was calling from outside instead of just walking in.

"Well, uh, you know that crack we've got round the back?" he said, as unsure as before,"I've got Edilio with me, to fix it."

Roger dropped his pencil.

"Oh, right, well, you two are coming on board, aren't you?" he said, trying to cover up the sudden break in his voice.

"Yeah," Justin said as he opened the door and walked in. "I was just checking if you didn't want to be disturbed."

Roger only half heard the last sentence, because Edilio had just walked in. He was wearing a slightly yellow t-shirt that looked a bit small for him and some cutoff jeans. They looked remarkably well kept. On his back was the plain backpack which contained his mix-and-match toolkit.

"Hey, you're the Artful Roger, right?" he asked, sounding relatively at ease. Roger liked his accent.

Roger belatedly realised that he was probably expecting a response.

"Oh! Yeah, that's me. Umm, hi?" he stammered. He felt a little faint.

"Hi."

All was silent for a moment.

"So, are you going to show me the problem?"

Roger blushed.

"Oh, of course, sorry, I'll just - umm," Roger stood up and lead Edilio (trailed by Justin) to the back of the houseboat and gestured awkwardly at the crack.

"Do you want me to go inside and leave you to it, then?" Roger didn't _want_ to leave, but he would feel weird hanging around and staring openly at Edilio.

"I think you should stay outside, Roger," Justin grinned. That little - he knew exactly what he was doing.

"I don't care - hang around if you want. You might get bored, though. I mean," Edilio trailed off and shrugged.

Roger darted inside to fetch his earlier artwork and the pencil, which had rolled into a corner. He went back outside and stationed himself where he had a nice view of the Honduran boy.

Justin giggled at Roger, and the artist glared at him in return. His work, Justin believed, was done.

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Edilio was actually a good conversationalist, whenever Roger managed to focus on the actual words he was using.

"I don't really remember you from before the FAYZ," he was saying. He then flushed. "Sorry, that was rude."

Roger rushed to reassure him.

"No, it's fine. I was really quiet, you know? I don't like to be noticed..." He trailed off, not really knowing what to say. _Roger_, it seemed, was not a good conversationalist. Not when in close proximity to Edilio, at any rate.

"I'm the same, though I suppose you did better at that than I did." He laughed and stood up. "I think that's done. If it happens again, come find me sooner."

"Oh, yeah. I'll, uhh, do that. Are you leaving now?" Roger managed to smile through the sinking feeling in his chest.

A glimpse of some emotion hurried across Edilio's face; it may have been surprise.

"Do you want me to leave? I mean, I've got nowhere to be, but man, if you don't want the company," Edilio seemed unsure, so Roger jumped in.

"No! No, if you want to hang around. I just thought you'd be busy, is all," he smiled awkwardly.

The Honduran boy grinned.

"I suppose I'm staying, then."

Roger smiled.

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Diana was disgruntled. She had just been to the toilet for what felt like the ninetieth time that day, almost fallen in, hurting her foot, and acquired a buzzing headache for her troubles. She was returning to her houseboat for a nap; it was about four in the afternoon, but who'd stop her? She was pregnant, for chrissakes!

So when she opened the door to her houseboat and was met with a cacophony of shouting and laughter, improbably coming from just two boys, she couldn't _really_ be blamed for getter rather irritated.

The boys hadn't noticed her entrance; both were utterly absorbed in their conversation. She stormed up to them, seething. They looked up, and Edilio grinned at her.

"Hey Diana - I didn't know you lived with Roger."

"You are both getting off this boat, taking your _volume_ with you, and going far away," she growled. When they continued to look at her, vaguely nonplussed, she snarled, grabbed each boy by the hair, and pulled them to their feet.

"You are leaving. Now."

They exchanged wide-eyed looks of sheer terror and scuttled off.

_Ahh_, Diana thought, _peace_.

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"I'm sorry about her. I forgot she liked to nap," Roger said.

"Not your fault," Edilio shrugged. He brought his left hand to rub at his scalp where Diana had pulled.

Roger noticed.

"Yeah, she doesn't normally do that. I wonder what her deal is today?"

This made Edilio laugh. "She _is_ pregnant. She's not going to be completely calm, is she?"

Roger noticed that Edilio was even cuter when he laughed. _Dammit, brain. And things had been going so well._

"Yeah, I suppose. Where should we go?" Roger was pretty pleased with himself - he hadn't stammered once.

But Edilio frowned.

"Oh, uh, we could hang out with Dekka, I guess? I don't think she's busy right now," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

Roger felt a sinking feeling in his stomach; it was ridiculous, they'd been hanging out for two hours. But still.

"If you want, I guess?" He'd _meant_ to agree, but his voice had betrayed him.

Edilio straightened his back.

"Or, we could hang out around the fields. Just us," Edilio said, and Roger's heart skipped.

He smiled. "I think that would be great."

Edilio returned the smile, offered his hand, and said, "Let's go, then, yeah?"

Roger took his hand, and they went.

**AN: This is my first multi-chapter fic, so con-crit is definitely welcomed! Please, please do. It is unbetaed, so all mistakes are my own. Thank you, and please review**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places, or events mentioned in this; it is fanfiction because I am a fan, that's all.

Author's Note: OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY. I've been busy, but I should have updated this way sooner, I really have no excuse, please don't hate me. It's here now, anyway! Still unbeta'd, sorry.

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Edilio was hopeful. Roger hadn't seemed to notice or respond to his nervous flirting, but he supposed that was okay. He might be shy. (Edilio was ignoring the possibility that Roger was straight, for his own sake.)

Roger was _funny_. Cute, too.

He'd noticed Roger occasionally getting distracted, though. Maybe he was bored by Edilio? That was a worry, because Roger was cute.

They had wandered for a few hours, talking about nothing much. They avoided serious topics, like family and feelings. (Most topics were serious in the FAYZ, but these were definitely the worst. Nobody ever talked about these.)

Edilio had had fun. It was a nice break from everything he had to do around the lake (which seemed to be everything - Sam was busy moping).

Today there was to be a meeting of the Council; there had been complaints of theft. Edilio was not anticipating a good day.

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He'd been right. They had gotten nowhere with the complaints, and some other things had come up. Sam had turned up for a few minutes, attempted to pretend to be interested, and left.

Edilio was getting annoyed with him; Astrid had left, alright, but Sam had responsibilities. Admitting to his poor leadership skills didn't get him off the hook of actually doing the job - he was supposed to be better, now that he was more self aware.

Of course, the kids wouldn't want to hear that. Sam was their hero, and they allowed him to grieve. (They were much more forgiving than Edilio, probably because they didn't have to pick up his slack.)

Somebody needed to do Sam's job for him, and it had always been Edilio so far; why challenge the status quo?

He barely had time to think about Roger at all.

Several hours later, however, Edilio sat at his table and sighed. He had not attempted to find Roger at all - he hadn't figured out what to say.

First, he needed to find out if Roger was actually interested. He knew that the other boy liked him, but he didn't know whether he liked him.

He'd thought at first... But no. He needed to be certain, because if he was wrong, and Roger told people...

He doubted that Roger would, but there was always a chance. The artist had mentioned having been a Christian before the FAYZ. He would have to be clever about this.

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He had realised that he had no time to figure this out at about the time the Breeze had appeared in his room and said, "Someone's houseboat sunk."

He groaned internally. Roger would have to wait.

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Edilio had been avoiding him. It was the only explanation. (Okay, he was busy, he probably didn't have time to talk to Roger because he had other priorities, but shush. He was trying to sulk.)

He he had been hoping that Edilio liked him. They'd held hands, and Roger had thought that had meant something. Maybe Edilio was just a tactile person or something, though, as he hadn't done anything else. It was probably just wishful thinking.

Roger tried to comfort himself with the idea that they could still be friends as he drew another picture of Edilio's face.

The boat jerked, sending Roger's hand across the picture and ruining it. He felt like that might be a metaphor.

He'd been attempting to have a social life beyond the people he lived with. Thankfully, some kids were organising some Friday entertainment which a lot of people were pretty excited for - it was starting that day.

It would probably be fun. There hadn't been much fun to do since the McClub, which he had never really been into. He'd heard Spongebob might be involved in this.

Justin had been having nightmares. Well, everybody had, it was an effect the FAYZ tended to have. Justin's were really bad, though, because of Mary's Fall. Roger winced thinking of it.

They'd moved Justin into Roger's room. It was cozy, with the two cots on opposite sides of the room. The wallpaper was a faded green, with odd splashes of other colours. Roger's parents would have been thrilled with how neat the room was, but it came from a mixture of necessity and paranoia. His parents would not be as thrilled with that.

Before the flicker, he would have shied away from these thought, but now he knew the rest of the world was out there. His parents were still alive. He missed them.

He wondered about Edilio's family.

_Dammit, brain_.

Every train of thought ended when it crashed into the massive Edilio-blockage across the tracks. It was becoming a major issue for whenever he tried to speak to people or do anything.

It wouldn't be so bad, except Justin seemed to _know_ when it happened. Roger loved the little guy, he was usually angelic, but he was very irritating occasionally.

He hadn't been hanging out with anyone, and that was mostly fine, but he did want a few more friends that weren't littles, pregnant girls, or Orc.

He knew Edi- _no. Stop. Quick, think about something else._

He began to draw a zeke, and was getting really into it, when - _Edilio's been up close to zekes a few times, I wonder if_ - he groaned.

Accepting that his efforts were in vain, he calmly put away his supplies, walked to his bed, and collapsed, face-down. He remained like that for a while, and was in the same position when Justin returned.

He heard a giggle, and Justin saying "You could probably spy on Edilio if you went outside. He's quite near."

Roger fell off the bed. When he looked up, Justin was gone.

_Well, what's the harm in checking?_

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He _had_ been telling the truth. However, Edilio was in a group of people - the majority of them the closest thing the FAYZ had to celebrities. So Roger just kind of watched them for a while.

Eventually, Edilio looked in his direction. Roger was stuck still for a moment before lifting his hand in an awkward wave.

Edilio waved him over, and Roger started out of the boat. Then Edilio's friends got his attention, and Roger panicked and fled inside.

He was never going to talk to Edilio.

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Edilio was only half listening to the conversation after seeing Roger and getting distracted. He'd wanted Roger to come over, and Roger had looked like he was going to, but then Dekka had said Edilio's name and he'd turned. When he had looked back at the boat, Roger was gone.

Edilio really hoped that it wasn't because of Dekka - he didn't want to think about what that would mean.

The others started laughing at something Dekka had said. Edilio quickly joined in.

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Sam had been temporarily motivated, so Edilio had a free day. This led to him sitting, bored, in the houseboat. Now the only problem was actually being brave enough to talk to Roger.

He mentally slapped himself. He had faced bigger problems than an (_adorable_) artist. He could do this.

He stood up and smoothed down his pants.

He was going to ask Roger why he'd gone back inside. His answer would, at the very least, give him a hint.

Far too quickly, he arrived at Roger and Justin's houseboat and reluctantly knocked. Thankfully, they kept it tied up in the same place. Edilio wondered if that was because Diana lived there.

As if his thoughts awakened the devil -_ no, that's mean, don't_ - Diana answered the door. She wore an expression that made Edilio want to crawl under a table and hide tried not to let it show.

After a few moments, she disappeared back into the houseboat.

Edilio followed very carefully. She scared him.

It was dark inside, and Edilio realised that he had no idea if Roger would be awake (_probably way too early, there were about three people outside_) or which was his room.

He picked a door at random and walked towards it. It opened in front of him, and he wasnot surprised. Nope. Justin walked out, smiled, and pointed into the room behind him.

Edilio nodded his thanks and walked towards the door.

He knocked with roughly the force of an asthmatic butterfly, and received no response. He knocked again, slightly harder. Still nothing. He very carefully took a few steps into the room.

He peeked in.


End file.
